Pfizer opens new $200 million research building in St. Louis

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer opened a new four-story, $200 million research building on Thursday.

By Catherine Wolf, KWMU

St. Louis, MO –

Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical company, opened a new 330,000 square foot research building in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield Thursday. Construction on the $200 million facility began in 2005. Its completion means the company's 1,200 St. Louis employees will be in one location instead of on four campuses.

Don Frail is Pfizer's St. Louis site director. He says about 250 Pfizer researchers will move into the building during April and May.

"It's a very methodical process to do this that's been mapped out over the last few months, because there's a lot of safety components that need to be minded around chemicals and things like that."

Frail says having Pfizer's 1,000 St. Louis scientists in one place will allow them to collaborate without having to travel or make conference calls.

"This will just really foster that hallway discussion, that hallway innovation that can happen when scientists meet together on a regular basis."

A separate $50 million expansion to Pfizer's biologics building is expected to be complete in 2010.